Draw and cut out a set of paper eyes to attach on straws for making characters.

Paper Eyes

From the gentle trickle of streams to large lakes, the freshwater biome encompasses all bodies of water with low salt concentration. Create a fish swimming throughout these aquatic environments.

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🇬🇧 Teacher Notes

### Lesson Structure

When students go through this lesson in each section, the objectives they will learn are:

* **Imagine** – Embark on an exploration of the Earth's freshwater supply and discover its crucial role in sustaining life.
* **Build** – Create a tiny fish with the tenacity to swim upstream of a mighty river.

Teacher Notes

Overview and Objectives

Materials

#### Teachers: Preparing Your Students (5 min)

When students begin the lesson, they start in [Overview and Objectives](#overview-and-objectives), then transition to this [Preparation](#preparation) section. Presented in their view is a vocabulary list of terms and infographics illustrating concepts across STEAM domains throughout this entire lesson.

* Read through the vocabulary list. (5 minutes)

This is the list of vocabulary terms used throughout the lesson. They will be in **bold** and listed throughout the different sections. Students can always revisit the vocabulary definitions with media and questions in the lesson. (5 minutes)

### Sustainable Development Goals

Review the [Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)](https://sdgs.un.org/goals) blueprint based on global needs to create a more sustainable world by 2030 before starting the lesson. (5 minutes)

Preparation

#### Freshwater Biomes

* Freshwater biomes occur in lakes, rivers, ponds, and streams around the world. 	
    * Fresh water has a 1% salt concentration or less. 
    * Only 3% of the water on Earth is freshwater, with the other 97% being saltwater found in oceans. 
    * Most freshwater is found in glaciers. Of all the water on Earth, only 0.5% is in liquid, drinkable form.
* Temperatures in the freshwater biome can vary widely. 
    * Average temperatures range from 39°F to 70°F. 
    * These temperatures vary based upon location, depth of water, and season. 
* Freshwater biomes have characteristics that have allowed certain types of animals and plants to thrive. 
    * Animals like salmon, otters, and beavers prefer moving water. Salmon travel from saltwater to freshwater rivers and streams to reproduce.  
    * Other organisms prefer still water environments, like those found in lakes and ponds. 
    * Algae, mosses, and water lilies thrive in freshwater biomes. 
    * Many fish, mollusks, insects, and amphibians live in all types of freshwater environments.

Freshwater has a salinity of 1% or less, compared to marine biomes having around 3.5%.

SDGs

NGSS

Florida - NGSSS

Imagine

Create the body

Build a tail

Connect tail to body

Make a friction lock for tail

Make an eye and swim!

Build

References and Extra Resources

STEAM Classroom

United States

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

Goal 14

Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

3-LS4-3

Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.

3-5-ETS1-1

Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

3-5-ETS1-2

Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

3-5-ETS1-3

Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

MS-ETS1-1

Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

MS-ETS1-2

Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations.

ISTE Students

1.6.c Creative Communicator

Recognize and explain that living things are found all over Earth, but each is only able to live in habitats that meet its basic needs.

SC.2.L.17.2

Recognize ways plants and animals, including humans, can impact the environment.

SC.4.L.17.4

Compare and contrast adaptations displayed by animals and plants that enable them to survive in different environments such as life cycles variations, animal behaviors and physical characteristics.

SC.5.L.17.1

Describe characteristics (temperature and precipitation) of different climate zones as they relate to latitude, elevation, and proximity to bodies of water.

SC.5.E.7.6

Investigate and apply how the cycling of water between the atmosphere and hydrosphere has an effect on weather patterns and climate.

SC.6.E.7.2

Explain and illustrate the roles of and relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in the process of energy transfer in a food web.

SC.7.L.17.1

Describe and investigate various limiting factors in the local ecosystem and their impact on native populations, including food, shelter, water, space, disease, parasitism, predation, and nesting sites.

SC.7.L.17.3

Describe how models and simulations can be used to solve real-world issues in science and engineering.

SC.35.CS-CS.1.2

Identify ways that technology can foster teamwork, and collaboration can support problem solving and innovation.

Intro: Freshwater Biome

Overview and Objectives

Lesson Structure